TESTING ISSUE
TEA to push for transparency in state testing
Published by the TENNESSEE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION October 2014 Vol. 46, No. 2 www.teateachers.org
High-stakes testing cuts time to teach After years of dubious and unchecked reforms that have ramped up the stakes in standardized testing, more teachers than ever before believe that testing is destroying the joy of teaching and negatively impacting critical learning skills. Just ask Hamblen County teacher and local education association leader Melinda Reese. In January, her colleague set out to mark all instructional days on her calendar and in March she discovered in horror that only 10 days were dedicated to actually teaching her students. “What’s wrong with this picture?” is the question raised by teachers all across Tennessee. The Tennessee Department of Education lists only a handful of mandated endof-year tests on its website, but don’t let that fool you. The toxic culture of highstakes testing is forcing districts to drown TIME TO TEACH go to page 4
If a teacher gives a test and a majority of students miss question 7, that teacher can go back and look at the question to be sure there wasn’t an error. Or, perhaps discover that the question didn’t get at the concept she was attempting to assess. Or maybe students need a little more work on that concept. But, when the State of
Tennessee administers TCAP, there is no way to make these determinations. The test questions are hidden away, never seen by those who are doing the teaching. If you can’t see the test, how can you be sure that you’re teaching the concepts in the best possible way? Or even worse, TEST TRANSPARENCY go to page 7
State mum on problems with test results. Accountability, anyone? Every good teacher knows you must get your grades in on time and those grades must be accurate. At the State Department of Education, however, a different set of rules apparently apply. While it seems nearly every time someone at the department opens their mouth something about test scores comes out, when the time came that it actually mattered and districts needed student scores for final grades the state was at a loss for
words – or should we say scores? State Department officials notified local school systems on Wednesday, May 20, that TCAP quick scores would not be available in time for teachers to include them in final grades for students. For many districts, the letter came just days before the end of the school year when report cards are issued, creating many headaches for teachers and parents. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE STATE go to page 6
Districts move away from SAT10 School districts and teachers across Tennessee are raising concerns about the use of the early elementary Standard Achievement Test (SAT10) for assessing students and teacher evaluation. Revived by the Tennessee Department of Education in the fall of 2012 in its last-ditch effort to assess students and teachers
in non-tested subjects, SAT10 was touted as a way to track students earlier and fulfill the student achievement portion of state-mandated teacher evaluation. “The validity and reliability of testing 5- and 6-year-olds is not supported by research,” says Suzanne Bryant, assistant MOVING AWAY FROM SAT10 go to page 7
Speaking out with you Barbara Gray, President
Carolyn Crowder, Executive Director
Make a Difference by Making Your Vote Count This November, voters nationwide will head to the polls. Elections are critical to public education supporters because the policies made by local, state and federal elected officials have a significant impact on education funding and what we, as educators, are able to do for our students. Now is the time to make sure you and your colleagues are registered to vote. Voting is more important now than ever before as public education is under attack from all sides. We are in this profession because we believe that educating our students is the most important investment we can make in our future. We must elect leaders who share that belief. Turnout has been low for pro-public education voters in recent elections and students are suffering as a result. Elected officials in Nashville have allowed Tennessee to drop below Mississippi in student investment. Federal per-pupil education funding is lower than it was three years ago, despite the fact that public schools now serve a million more students. Tennessee relies heavily on federal funding to keep many teachers employed, which is why voting in federal elections is very important. TEA had tremendous success within the past year to stem the flow of antiteacher legislation in our state. It is crucial that we elect pro-public education legislators to build on that momentum in the coming legislative session. “Turnout has been low As you prepare to vote this fall, I encourage you to look beyond for pro-public education political party and instead choose voters in recent elections the candidate who will support your and students are suffering profession and your students. We need elected officials who will put the as a result. ” interests of hard-working Tennesseans at the top of the legislative agenda, instead of working to stack the deck in favor of wealthy individuals and corporations who seek to destroy public education. All students have the right to a quality public education and great public schools that help prepare them to succeed in life. In addition, we know that high-quality early childhood education, including full-day kindergarten, are fundamental to long-term student success, which also requires more funding. Our students can’t vote, so we have to be their voice in the midterm elections. It’s up to us, educators, parents, and community leaders, to make choices today that will help ensure that our students have the future they deserve.
teach (USPS 742-450, ISSN 15382907) is published in August, October, Jan/Feb, and March/April by the Tennessee Education Association, 801 Second Avenue North, Nashville TN 37201-1099. Periodical postage paid at Nashville, TN. The subscription price of $3.65 is allocated from annual membership dues of $258.00 for active members; $129.00 for associate, education support and staff members; $16.00 for retired members; and $10.00 for student members. Member of State Education Editors (SEE). Postmaster: Send address changes to teach, 801 Second Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37201-1099. MANAGING EDITOR: Alexei Smirnov asmirnov@tea.nea.org ASSISTANT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Jim Wrye EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & PUBLISHER: Carolyn Crowder
2 October 2014
Tennessee Education Association 801 Second Avenue North Nashville, TN 37201-1099 Telephone: (615)242-8392, Toll Free: (800)342-8367, (800)342-8262 Fax: (615)259-4581 Website: www.teateachers.org
BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT: Barbara Gray* (800)342-8367 VICE PRESIDENT: Beth Brown* (931)779-8016 SECRETARY-TREASURER: Carolyn Crowder (615)242-8392 DISTRICT 1 Joe Crabtree (423)794-9357 DISTRICT 2 Lauren McCarty (865)385-5220 DISTRICT 3 Michael Carvella (865)212-9774 DISTRICT 4 Anthony Hancock (865)293-9232 DISTRICT 5 Shawanda Perkins (423)385-9569 DISTRICT 6 Scott Price (931)455-7198
It’s Time to Spread Fertilizer My brother-in-law used to own a lawn care business. We signed him up to spray our yard to prevent weeds from taking over. Before the first treatment, I asked him what kind of chemicals he was going to use. I was worried there might be some kind of poison in them that would be bad for my dog. He told me, “I won’t be using chemicals to kill the weeds; I will be using fertilizer to make the grass grow. There is nothing that chokes out weeds better than strong, growing grass. The fertilizer is safe, won’t hurt your dog and will produce strong, thick grass.” Last legislative session, public education was almost taken over by those who wanted to defund our neighborhood schools to the benefit of private schools. The forces that we beat back last spring are preparing to fight even harder this coming session. The voucher proponents have already hired more than 50 lobbyists to promote their cause. We cannot afford to get discouraged and give up. We must remember that a strong showing of grassroots member support worked last spring and can work again. With these challenges, we will need more support to beat back the growing weeds that threaten to take over public education. It is time to fertilize and grow our support! If you know of anyone who has not joined TEA in your local, now is the time to get them on board. Together we saved the profession last year by making it against the law to use TVAAS in teacher licensure and we saved public school funding by defeating vouchers. Because of growing opposition, we need to grow an even stronger membership base to stand together and “choke out” the bad ideas that keep threatening to ruin what we know is a beautiful lawn called public education.
Over the past year, TEA has been holding meetings across the state on the issue of testing and how it is changing classrooms and teaching careers. Anyone who works in schools has witnessed firsthand how the standardized tests have become the driving force for schools, and there are growing concerns about that trend. In this issue TEACH, the association looks critically at all aspects of the high-stakes nature of standardized tests, and what it holds for the future of students.
DISTRICT 7 Regina Harvey (615)765-3168 DISTRICT 8 Kevin King (615)504-0425 DISTRICT 9 Theresa L. Wagner (270)776-1467 DISTRICT 10 Becky Jackman (931)980-0206 DISTRICT 11 Wendy R. Bowers (731)645-8595 DISTRICT 12 Suzie May (731)779-9329 DISTRICT 13 VACANT DISTRICT 14 Tiffany Reed (901)412-2759 DISTRICT 15 Tom Emens (901)277-0578 ADMINISTRATOR EAST Jessica Holman (865)591-4981 ADMINISTRATOR MIDDLE Julie Hopkins (615)822-5742 ADMINISTRATOR WEST Dennis Kimbrough (901)494.0105 HIGHER EDUCATION Clinton Smith (901)230-4914 BLACK CLASSROOM TEACHER EAST Pam Thompson (615)948.7378 BLACK CLASSROOM TEACHER MIDDLE Kenneth Martin
(615)876-1948 BLACK CLASSROOM TEACHER WEST Sarah Kennedy-Harper (901)416-4582 STATE SPECIAL SCHOOLS Debi Ponder (615)969-4362 NEW TEACHER Carrie Allison (812)205-7689 ESP Stephanie Bea (901)265-4540 TN NEA DIRECTOR Melanie Buchanan (615)305-2214 TN NEA DIRECTOR Diccie Smith (901)482-0627 STEA MEMBER David Johnson (865)828-5324 TN RETIRED Linda McCrary (423)473-9400 * Executive Committee
TEA HEADQUARTERS STAFF EXECUTIVEDIRECTOR:CarolynCrowder;ASST.EXECUTIVEDIRECTORS: TerranceGibson;SteveMcCloud;DuranWilliams;JimWrye; COMPTROLLER:DavidShipley;TECHNOLOGY&BUILDINGOPERATIONS MANAGER,Galen Riggs;STAFFATTORNEYS:JohnAllen,VirginiaA. McCoy,MaryCampbell;GOVERNMENTRELATIONSCOORDINATOR:Drew
Sutton;WEBMASTER&COMMUNICATIONSCOORDINATOR:Amanda Chaney;MANAGINGEDITOR&COMMUNICATIONSCOORDINATOR: AlexeiSmirnov; INSTRUCTION&PROFESSIONALDEVELOPMENT COORDINATORS:RhondaThompson;COORDINATOROFORGANIZING SUPPORT&AFFILIATERELATIONS:ShannonBain;ADVOCACYHOTLINE COORDINATOR:ForestineCole,GeraSummerford&CynthiaWood.
UniServ Staff contact information can be found on page 11 or by scanning the Quick Response code below.
Eskelsen García Takes Reins At NEA, Renews Fight to Protect Public Education “Value-added measures are the mark of the devil.” One sentence and we were hooked. For any teacher frustrated with Tennessee’s own value added measure, TVAAS, the newly elected NEA President Lily Eskelsen García landed an opening punch the moment she was elected, declaring war on over-testing, privatizers and all others who seek to destroy public education. Her feisty, no-holds-barred style is winning over educators here in Tennessee and across the country. As a former elementary teacher and cafeteria worker, Eskelsen García understands the daily struggles of both teachers and education support professionals. “Lily is already demonstrating a true ability to energize and unite association members at every level,” said Barbara Gray, TEA president. “The attacks on public education are coming from all directions. Having a national leader like Lily gives me great confidence that together we will win this fight and take back our schools and our profession.” Eskelsen García recently told NEA Today that her goal as NEA president is to show that the only way to restore hope for educators across the country is to come together with millions of their colleagues and be a full-throttle force in the profession – a profession that knows what is best for students and the future of public education. During her tenure as NEA vice president, Eskelsen García made several trips to Tennessee to meet with educators from across the state. Her latest visit included a stop at TEA’s Spring Symposium in 2012 to deliver the keynote address to conference attendees. “We know what is at stake and it is why we are who we are,” Eskelsen García told NEA Today. “It is why we are fearless and why we will not be silent.” Keep up with President Lily Eskelsen García on Twitter, @Lily_NEA, and on her blog, www.lilysblackboard.org.
TEA wins major ruling on representation during discipline meetings TEA won a major victory in its lawsuit against the Union County Board of Education, proving that Tennessee teachers have a right to representation in investigative hearings under the Professional Educators’ Collaborative Conferencing Act (PECCA).
If a teacher is summoned to an investigative interview where the teacher reasonably believes the investigation may result in disciplinary action against her, she or he may request an association representative to be present at the interview.
At issue was a Union County central office staffer’s refusal to allow a teacher and Union County Education Association member to have an association representative present during an investigatory interview.
“This Court of Appeals opinion clearly points out that in section 603, PECCA guarantees more rights than just the right to engage in
“Our lawsuit alleged that the school board violated PECCA,” said Steve McCloud, TEA general counsel. PECCA, which replaced collective bargaining in Tennessee as a result of anti-teacher reforms of the past few years, provides that “[p]rofessional employees have the right to self-organization, to form, join or be assisted by organizations, to participate in collaborative conferencing... and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of other mutual aid and benefit...” “TEA fought very hard to keep that provision in PECCA and when we saw it violated, we fought to defend the rights of our members,” said TEA President Barbara Gray. In its August 28, 2014, decision, the Knoxville Court of Appeals held that the rights provided to professional employees under PECCA section 603 include the right to have a representative of their organization present.
The courts affirmed the right of TEA members to have association representatives present for discipline meetings collaborative conferencing,” McCloud said. “Section 603 guarantees ‘Weingarten’ rights to professional employees, namely, the right to have a representative present in an investigative interview that could lead to discipline.” In his 13-page opinion, Knoxville Court of Appeals Chief Judge Charles D. Susano also held that the ”Association has organizational standing to pursue this action on behalf of its members.” 3 www.teateachers.org
Governor’s Letter to Teachers ‘Full of Empty Words’ Tennessee’s teachers had choice words for Gov. Bill Haslam in response to his condescending letter welcoming school staff back to the new school year. While many were disappointed teachers didn’t receive pay raises, others felt insulted by the general lack of support from the current administration for the teaching profession. One teacher called Haslam’s letter “full of empty words” and said that morale in Tennessee schools is low because “we are working in hostile conditions.” Visit www.tnedreport.com for more comments from teachers. House Democratic Leader Craig Fitzhugh also published a lengthy op-ed saying that “Tennessee teachers don’t need the governor to explain to them that too many students are unprepared for a postsecondary education – they see it firsthand every morning.”
TEA Partners With Geographic Alliance TEA recently partnered with the Tennessee Geographic Alliance to host a series of professional development trainings on the new social studies standards. TGA has made many of the resources shared at the trainings available on its website. Visit www. tngeographicalliance.org to view the new standards and check out lesson plans for different grade levels. The next meeting will be held 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. October 16 at the Martin Professional Development Center, 2400 Fairfax Avenue, in Nashville.
TEA Members Finalists for State Awards The TN Department of Education has announced finalists for the 2014-15 Tennessee Supervisor and Principal of the Year. Please join us in congratulating these outstanding TEA members: Timothy Parrott (Supervisor Anderson Co.), Dedric McGhee (Supervisor - Shelby Co.), Ronald Hughes (Principal - Apison Elem., Hamilton Co.), Beth Unfried (Principal - Norman Smith Elem., ClarksvilleMontgomery) and Sharon McNary (Principal - Richland Elem., Shelby Co.).
East Nashville Parents Fight Charter Expansion, School Closure Parents in East Nashville are fighting back after recent news about Metro Nashville’s plans to close some public schools and convert them to privately run charters. “Neighborhood schools have always been pillars of the community,” according to an online petition. “In the current educational landscape, neighborhood schools and their often dedicated staff are being taken over, shut down, or pushed out. We, the parents and neighbors, wish to show support for our neighborhood school, Inglewood Elementary; principal Carrie Mickle, and her team.” “We ask Dr. Register and the MNPS School Board to allow Ms. Mickle the time and resources they would offer any other entity to educate our children,” according to the petition. To support the parents, students and educators of Inglewood Elementary, sign the petition on www.change.org. 4 October 2014
NO TIME TO TEACH continued from page 1
students and their teachers in a benchmark testing bonanza throughout the school year. “Will we ever be able to take control of our profession?” asked a math teacher in Elizabethton in late August. The school year has just begun, but this teacher and his colleagues were concerned about the mounting pressures from testing and the lack of enthusiasm among students. Adding to their worries are the new Common Core standards. Designed to teach great concepts and high-order thinking skills, teachers say Common Core is making matters worse because all testing is still based on the same old right vs. wrong assessment model. The state department remains deaf to the worries of teachers who point out the vast and unpredictable differences among Tennessee students. Take the case of Jackson-Madison County EA member Margaret Campbell. In 2012, she taught 23 students, 13 of whom suffered from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD.
“As a parent, I didn’t know all this testing was going on,” said Jennifer Proseus, a Shelby County mother whose daughter was diagnosed with anxiety after complaining of severe stomach pains before the TCAP test. “We don’t know what’s being asked on those tests.”
Proseus started a popular Momma “This wasn’t measured anywhere on the Bears blog in a bid to raise awareness tests,” said Campbell, who teaches at South among parents about the issues facing Elementary School in Pinson, during a public education. She said she became Forum on Standardized increasingly concerned Testing at Liberty about the types of Technology Magnet questions asked on Parent: “We’re shaming School in Jackson last standardized tests, “What our kids into doing November. is your parents’ education
level? Do you have a TV better on a test, but Campbell and other in your home? Does your forum participants agreed some people just don’t teacher push you to learn? that stress, fear and low How can a five-year-old do well on tests.” morale are the cumulative respond to that?” result of excessive testing in Tennessee public Evan Holt, an eighthschools, and questioned the unchecked grade student at Rose Hill Middle School in expansion of the multi-billion dollar testing Jackson, said when he doesn’t understand industry in our state. what his teacher is saying, there’s no time to “It’s astounding that our state spends so much money on testing but cannot afford to give teachers a paltry raise,” said TEA President Barbara Gray.
go back to review the material because of the testing pressure.
While teachers say the enormous expense of excessive testing doesn’t measure up, parents are concerned with increasing stress levels of their kids and teachers.
Stacey Volner, an elementary school teacher in McNairy County, said her scores were lost somewhere in the system and she was told they could not be recovered.
“We’re shaming our kids into doing better on a test, but some people just don’t do well on tests,” said Dave Lillard, a concerned parent of four Tipton County students. Lillard, who works in security with the U.S. Department of State, said his wife is a gifted and passionate teacher, but he supported her decision to quit the teaching profession because she “cries almost every night.”
“I’d like to know what else they’re losing,” Volner added.
Other parents are joining the growing opposition to excessive testing.
“When we have too many tests, students stop trying,” Holt said.
Margaret Campbell echoed the sentiment of many education employees in the audience when she said the current situation is an emergency. “It takes a village to teach our children, but now it feels like the village is on fire and I’m choking on the smoke,” Campbell said.
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ASSESSMENTS ARE TOOLS Assistant State Superintendent resigns after multiple testing mishaps ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE STATE continued from page 1
The use of TCAP scores in student grades is a state mandate, but because of the state’s delay, most school systems asked for a waiver from using the scores in final grades. The state department followed up its spring TCAP problems by releasing an inaccurate “School Accountability List” to directors in August. The list names which schools have been designated as “focus” or “priority” schools based on value-added measures among other things. Greeneville City Director of Schools Dr. Linda Stroud knew mistakes had been made when she saw two of her highest performing schools, Greeneville High School and Tusculum View Elementary School, on the Focus Schools list. “We knew we wouldn’t have any schools on Priority or Focus because we know the data of our schools, and they’re knocking the top out of it,” Stroud said in an interview with The Greeneville Sun. “The Tennessee Department of Education needs to be held to the same high standards of accountability to which they are holding our teachers, students and school districts.” Greeneville City Schools determined the errors were a result of the state not properly applying federal “safe
harbor” guidelines. After the mistake was brought to the attention of Erin O’Hara, then-assistant commissioner for data and research, more than 40 schools had changes to their designations when the list was publicly released on Tuesday, Aug. 19 – five days after the initial list was sent to directors. O’Hara was allowed to take the fall for both mishaps and later resigned from the state department. “With so many failures in his own department, the they shouldn’t even be allowed to utter the word ‘accountability’ until they get their house in order,” said Jim Wrye, TEA assistant executive director and chief lobbyist. “Erin O’Hara was not a one-woman shop and she should not shoulder the full responsibility of mistakes made under the leadership of the department.” The state’s delay in releasing scores last school year brought to light the many implications of tying so many things to a test score that was intended to only be used as a diagnostic tool. “Commissioner Huffman has been – and continues to be – on this blind, single-minded crusade to tie all things to standardized test scores,” Wrye said. “He wants our teachers to be held accountable for every little bubble their students fill in, yet where is the accountability when he and his staff delay report cards for the entire state?”
Former Assistant Education Commissioner Erin O’Hara
What will be the next test to replace the TCAP? Last session, after TEA called for a one-year moratorium on the use of the untested PARCC assessment, the Tennessee General Assembly voted to halt the state’s use of the test. Instead, the legislature called for the state to take bids from a variety of companies to determine who will develop Tennessee’s new common core-aligned assessment. TEA wanted the moratorium when questions arose about the online focus of PARRC, the cost of paper tests, the 6 October 2014
lack of confidence in the non-multiple test portions of the assessment. Most importantly, TEA was concerned about how the untried test would negatively affect teacher evaluations, especially in light of licensure based on test scores policy that TEA ultimately defeated in the legislature. The state received five applications in response to its request for proposals. While the state will not release the list of companies, there are reports that Pearson
and CTB-McGraw Hill both submitted bids. The winning bid is expected to be announced in November of this year. The assessment, regardless of the company selected, is expected to have an online component and include opended questions. TEA will be following the announcement closely in the coming weeks. We also anticipate this being a hot topic in the next legislative session.
S, NOT THE OVERALL GOAL TEA to push for test transparency in legislature TEST TRANSPARENCY continued from page 1
what if there are errors in the test question, but no one ever knows about it? It doesn’t have to be this way. TEA believes that state tests like TCAP should be available for public viewing as soon as possible after the tests have been administered. It’s an idea called “test transparency.” The premise is simple: Give teachers and parents a chance to see the questions on tests the state is giving.
Testing transparency will give teachers insight into the concepts being assessed by TCAP and other state-mandated tests. It will also give teachers confidence that the questions on the tests match the standards being taught. Our neighbors in Virginia have been doing this for years. In fact, it is a requirement of Virginia state law. Their law says that state tests must be made available to the public in a timely manner as soon as practicable after the tests have been administered. TEA plans to introduce legislation in 2015 to impose the same requirement on any statemandated test in Tennessee. It’s only fair that
teachers, parents, and students know what’s expected of them on state tests. The easiest way to make this happen is through true test transparency. Imagine being able to review test questions from the previous year in order to ensure that what you’re teaching matches what your students are expected to know. You could also ensure that the test accurately assesses the standards you are expected to teach. The public can have confidence that the testing companies receiving tax dollars are putting forth a good product. Everyone wins with test transparency. It’s time to make it happen in Tennessee.
Many systems move away from SAT10 use MOVING AWAY FROM SAT10 continued from page 1
director for instruction at Greeneville City Schools. “The research against testing 5and 6-year-olds is stronger.” A former kindergarten teacher with experience from a time when Tennessee gave achievement tests to kindergartners (and later discontinued that practice), Bryant says the reintroduction of SAT10 in Tennessee schools is wrong for many reasons, so Greeneville City Schools chose not to use it. “It’s unfair to assess our teachers and students with a test that doesn’t measure the standards they are teaching and learning,” Bryant says. “Forcing them to take it would negate our work on Common Core standards. We worked very hard to meet the rigor of Common Core. We wanted to be fair to our teachers
and students.” Greeneville City Schools are on the growing list of districts opting out of SAT10. TEA has also been raising serious concerns about the validity of the test and its use in TVAAS. After just one year of administering standardized tests to 5- to 7-year-olds, Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Jesse Register voiced serious concerns about continuing the practice of using SAT10. “I don’t want to put young kids through testing just to find a score to attach to a teacher,” Register said last year. MNPS is no longer using SAT10. Many decision-makers in school districts across the state were angered by the state department’s forced correlation between SAT10 and TCAP, which begins in the third grade. Some were surprised to learn SAT10 was optional.
“As a former assessment coordinator, I don’t feel confident at all about deriving TVAAS data from SAT10,” Bryant says. “I don’t think these measurements are valid. Going from the norm-referenced SAT assessment in second grade to criterion-referenced TCAP assessment in the third grade doesn’t work.” After years of hand-wringing and nonaction, Tennessee’s teachers view the department’s effort to correlate evaluation between SAT10 and TCAP as a huge failure. “It was a huge theoretical leap that was doomed to fail, but it resulted in real suffering among teachers, many of whom were put on improvement plans, lost tenure or differentiated pay,” says TEA Executive Director Carolyn Crowder. Greeneville City Schools had the foresight to avoid the SAT10 debacle. “The data minds in our district put our heads together and said we’re not doing this to our teachers and our kids. This is not going to be a valid measure,” Bryant says. Still, Bryant is pessimistic about the willingness of the current regime at the State Department of Education to learn from its mistakes. “I don’t think [the decision-makers] are interested in hearing about what we have to say. They know we’re not using SAT10 and they haven’t contacted us about it,” Bryant says. 7 www.teateachers.org
ASD BELOW EXPECTIONS continued from page 12
When the ASD opened, the promise was that schools in the district would be given extra support and converted to charters, resulting in eight to 10 point gains in student test scores every year. Unfortunately, the ASD has yet to live up to the promise. Here’s one example: In 2013, Memphis public school Hanley Elementary was sucked into the Achievement School District and split into two Aspire charter schools. Since the takeover, the percent of students scoring proficient or advanced on state tests has dropped precipitously, according to education blog Chalkbeat Tennessee. Before the takeover in 2012-13, 22.7 percent of Hanley Elementary students tested scored proficient or advanced in math and 10.4 percent were proficient or advanced in reading, a year later only 9.9 percent of students at Hanley 1 scored proficient or advanced in math, and just 5.2 percent scored proficient or advanced in reading. At Hanley 2, 6.3 percent of students scored proficient or advanced in math and 4.7 percent scored proficient or advanced in reading. That placed both schools in the state’s lowest category for
student growth in both subjects. According to Chalkbeat, Aspire’s scores were the lowest in the ASD. Aspire leaders said the drop in scores was caused by Aspire’s decision to prepare students only for tests aligned with the Common Core State Standards rather than for TCAP. It is an excuse without much merit—almost all Tennessee schools have been implementing Common Core standards and have not seen the drop as in the Aspire schools. Moreover, the vast majority of TCAP questions are also part of the new state standards. Experts and parents are finding that the “blow it up” approach simply does not work in public education.
Experts and parents are finding that “blow it up” school reform doesn’t work for students or communities.
TIME TO PUT ON THE BRAKES ON THE ASD BLOW UP MODEL The Achievement School District has already spent $18 million in Race to the Top funds in addition to other resources from the district, state and outside sources. But, according to analysts, the gains are minimal at best and appear to be no better than what would have happened had the schools been left in the care of their district. At worst, student test scores are actually below where they would have been had the ASD not taken over the schools. Such minimal gains, or even regressions, after so much additional funding raises serious doubt about the effectiveness of the “blow it up” model. It certainly puts in doubt the claims of the ASD supporters that the agency would move schools poorly performing on tests from the bottom to the top.
8 October 2014
Hanley’s not an isolated example, either. It’s the norm for the ASD schools, which show an average gain of just 2.92 points per year in math and 0.72 points in ELA. These results are a long way from what was promised and a disservice to the students who would have been better served in the district schools they left. Recently, parents in East Nashville protested an effort by Metro Schools to include more schools in the Achievement School District because of concerns that the “blow it up” and over-promise model of charterbased education reform is just not working. TEA Executive Director Carolyn Crowder says, “The Achievement School District is a perfect example of what happens when you turn schools over to noneducators from the profit-focused charter management world. Putting students first means supporting the teachers and staff at struggling schools, not closing them down or handing them over for education experiments. Tennessee’s students deserve better.”
3 NO VOTE
ON
Vote against the constitutional amendment that may starve public school budgets for generations to come. The amendment would constitutionally ban a state income tax. If corporate excise taxes falter and revenue dries up for education, one fair solution to the revenue crisis would be a modest income tax on the wealthy. Middle and low income Tennesseans already pay their fair share because the state relies heavily on sales taxes that hit us more.
Why Vote No on 3?
By limiting options for our future, Amendment 3 may force:
• More hikes and a double-digit SALES TAX on FOOD and other NECESSITIES, hurting local businesses, costing Tennessee jobs, and placing an unfair burden on Tennessee’s working families. • Hikes in the local PROPERTY TAX, and even creation of a STATEWIDE PROPERTY TAX. • Cuts in K-12 EDUCATION, Meals on Wheels, FIRST RESPONDERS, and other important community services. • TUITION HIKES at our universities, fueling mounting student debt. Spread the word NOW! If Amendment 3 passes, it will cripple Tennessee for decades to come and place a heavy load on the backs of future generations. Stop Amendment 3 now, before it’s too late! www.VoteNo3.org | www.facebook.com/VoteNo3 9 www.teateachers.org
Education outfit or real estate company?
Virtual school has exceptionally poor record A WASTE OF ED FUNDING continued from page 12
that the commissioner of education is threatening to shut them down. That is, after they operate for one more year. K12, Inc. works in partnership with Union County Schools to operate the Tennessee Virtual Academy. In exchange for acting as an administrative agent for K12, Inc., Union County receives a four-percent administrative fee each year. This year, that meant $132,000 for the district.
Rocketship Charters active in Nashville and Memphis have significant real estate investors backing them. Such arrangements are underwritten by taxpayer dollars and raise questions about the motives of charter companies.
So, what happens to all the kids who attend the Tennessee Virtual Academy and then get kicked out when the school is shut down? They go back to schools all across Tennessee. They go back further behind and more discouraged than before. The districts, and the teachers in those districts, will be held accountable for educating the students that K12, Inc. failed.
Don’t let them silence you! The Legislature is attempting to limit and control Tennessee educators’ exercise to free speech rights if they use payroll deductions for TEA dues. There is a way to protect your rights and benefits through your membership in the Tennessee Education Association!
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TEA Automatic Dues Pay! For more information call TEA at 800.342.8367 ext. 213 or visit www.teateachers.org 10 October 2014
“This kind of education experiment has been a complete failure,” said TEA President Barbara Gray. “We can’t afford to allow these kinds of schemes to take away critcal funds from schools. This kind of failed reform agenda must be stopped. And TEA is the only organization that can do it.” How long will K12, Inc. be allowed to operate a failing school in Tennessee? This past summer the state informed Union County--the fiscal agent for the virtual school--that the program couldn’t enroll new students because of its failure rate. Yet the stop notice was delivered late to the county office, and hundreds of new students had already signed up. After backtracking, Commissioner Huffman has now allowed these students to stay. Unfortunately, it will be a lost academic year for most.
Need information, services? Tennessee Education Association 801 Second Avenue N., Nashville, TN 37201-1099 (615) 242-8392, (800) 342-8367, FAX (615) 259-4581
UniServ Coordinators Adding a teacher’s perspective - TEA Vice President Beth Brown talks with reporters following the September Governor’s Education Summit, which lacked educators’ perspective and input.
View from the table: Summit overlooks key issues By Beth Brown When I was invited to participate in Gov. Bill Haslam’s education summit that took place on September 12, I imagined it would be a little intimidating to sit down with the governor, the commissioner of education, state legislators, city mayors, business leaders and others – until I realized I was one of the only teachers at the table. I understood quickly while many people are very wellversed in education policy, most had zero classroom experience. The small group of teachers and administrators participating in the discussion were the real experts in the room. I walked away from that table with two things. First, testing transparency is a huge problem for students, teachers and parents. Presenters spoke at length about the need for appropriate assessments to determine what students have and have not learned. How would a classroom teacher know if the state test was appropriate and fit what we’ve been told to teach? Once a student takes that state test, teachers never see real results, just numbers. A list of student scores does not tell me what questions students missed or how I can help them master those problems. If a parent asks me why their student performed poorly on a state test, I don’t have an answer for them because I am prohibited from reviewing the questions after the test. How can a student improve if they do not know what areas they struggled with on the test? This is frustrating for teachers and parents, but the ones who truly suffer are the students. My second takeaway is the serious need
for accountability in Tennessee, but not just for teachers. The administration and the Department of Education cannot say enough about the dire need to hold teachers accountable for how students fill in bubbles—but where is the state’s accountability? The state’s investment in our students is embarrassing. Mississippi invests more per student than Tennessee. Over the course of a four-hour discussion about public education, funding was mentioned one time. One time. How can you gather that many education and policy leaders in a room and not address one of the biggest issues facing our schools? I am proud of the work my colleagues and I are able to do with so little resources, but it is time the governor be held accountable for not appropriately funding our schools. It isn’t just the governor, though. Commissioner Huffman has made test scores the be-all, end-all for students and teachers, yet his department failed to get test scores back to districts in time for final grades. After that massive blunder, he followed it up by distributing an inaccurate “School Accountability List” to directors, incorrectly listing which schools were named “focus” schools. These mistakes have serious implications for students and educators. Where was the commissioner’s accountability? There were many conflicting ideas and opinions at the summit. Mr. Governor, I hope you were listening when the real experts spoke.
ED SUMMIT HELD WITH FEW EDUCATORS continued from page 11
Another major concern for educators is the over-testing students are experiencing. TEA Vice President Beth Brown brought up this concern only to have it dismissed by Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman, who stuck to his mantra that there is only one-state mandated test and the remaining tests are at the discretion of the local school districts. Huffman takes no responsibility for the fact that his obsession with tying all high-stakes decisions to test scores has forced districts to give students more and more “practice” tests throughout the school year. At a time when public education is under attack like never before, it is disappointing to have yet another reminder of how out-of-touch policymakers in Nashville are with the realities of what is happening in our schools across the state. Teachers need appropriate resources and they need time to teach – not test – in order to improve student achievement. Brown, a Grundy County high school English teacher, was one of the four classroom teachers at the table. Read her account of Tennessee’s Education Summit to the left.
District 1 — Harry Farthing, P.O. Box 298, Elizabethton, TN 37644; phone: (423)262-8035, fax: (866)379-0949; Assns: Carter, Hancock, Hawkins, Rogersville, Johnson, Sullivan, Bristol, Elizabethton, Kingsport. District 2 — Jennifer Gaby, P.O. Box 70, Afton, TN 37616; (423)2340700, fax: (423)234.0708; Assns: Cocke, Newport, Greene, Greeneville, Unicoi, Washington, Hamblen, Johnson City. District 3 — Tina Parlier, P.O. Box 74, Corryton, TN 37721, (865)688-1175, fax: (866)5183104; Assns: Claiborne, Grainger, Jefferson, Sevier, Union, Scott, Campbell, Oneida (in Scott Co.). District 4 — Vacancy, KCEA, 2411 Magnolia Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917 Assns: Knox,TSD, District 5— Jason White, P.O. Box 5502, Oak Ridge, TN 37831; (615)521-1333, fax: (865)200-5254; Assns: Anderson, Clinton, Oak Ridge, Blount, Alcoa, Maryville, Lenoir City, Loudon. District 6 — Chris Brooks, P.O. Box 3629, Chattanooga, TN 37404, (615)332-2636; Assns: Bradley, Cleveland, McMinn, Athens, Etowah, Meigs, Monroe, Sweetwater, Polk, Rhea-Dayton, Roane. District 7 — Theresa Turner, HCEA 4655 Shallowford Rd., Chattanooga, TN 37411; (423)485-9535, fax: (423)485-9512; Assns: Hamilton. District 8 — Josh Trent; Assns: Clay, Cumberland, Fentress, Jackson, Morgan, Pickett, Putnam, Overton, York Institute, TN Tech. Univ, Bledsoe, Sequatchie,Van Buren, White. District 9 — Jackie Pope, 2326 Valley Grove Dr., Murfreesboro, TN 37128;phone: (615)8981060, fax: (855) 301-8214, Assns: Bedford, Moore, Cannon, DeKalb, Coffee, Franklin, Grundy, Manchester, Tullahoma, Marion, Warren. District 10 — Jeff Garrett, P.O. Box 1326, Lebanon, TN 37088-1326; (615)630-2605, fax (855)320-8755—; Assns: Rutherford, Murfreesboro, Sumner, MTSU, Macon, Smith, Trousdale. District 11 — Antoinette Lee; Assns: FSSD, Williamson. District 12 — Sue Ogg; phone: (615)856-0503 — Assns: Giles, Lawrence, Lewis, Lincoln, Fayetteville, Maury, Wayne, Marshall, Perry. District 13 — Mary Campbell, Susan Dalton, Metro Nashville, 531 Fairground Court, Nashville, TN 37211; (615)347-6578 (Campbell), fax: (855)299-4968 (Campbell); Assns: Metro Nashville, TN School For The Blind, Lebanon, Wilson. District 14 — Maria Uffelman, P.O. Box 99, Cumberland City, TN 37050; phone: (931)827-3333, fax: (855)299-4925; Assns: Clarksville-Montgomery, Robertson. District 15 — Cheryl Richardson, P.O. Box 354, Goodlettsville, TN 37070; phone: (615)630-2601, fax: (888)519-4879; Assns: Benton, West Carroll, Central, Clarksburg, Huntingdon, McKenzie, Henry, Paris, Houston, Humphreys, Stewart, Cheatham, Dickson, Hickman. District 16 — Lorrie Butler, P.O. Box 387, Henderson, TN 38340; (731)989-4860, fax: (855)299-4591; Assns: Chester, Hardeman, West TSD, Henderson, Lexington, Jackson-Madison, McNairy, Decatur, Hardin. District 17 — Karla Carpenter, P.O. Box 177, Brunswick, TN 38014; (901)590-2543, fax: (855)299-4892; —Assns: Crockett, Dyer, Dyersburg, Gibson, Humboldt, Milan, Trenton, Haywood, Lake, Lauderdale, Obion, Union City, Tipton, Weakley. District 18 — Zandra Foster, Ashley Evett, 3897 Homewood Cove, Memphis, TN 38128; (901)377-9472, fax: (855)320-8737;—Assns: Arlington, Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, Lakeland, Millington, Fayette. District 19 — Assns: MemphisShelby County Education Association — Ken Foster, Executive Director; Memphis-Shelby County EA UniServ Directors: Glenda Jones, Terri Jones, Tom Marchand, 126 South Flicker Street, Memphis, TN 38104; (901)454-0966, fax: (901)454-9979; Assn: MemphisShelby County.
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Beth Brown is TEA vice president. 11 www.teateachers.org
Governor’s Education Summit has few educators
K12 Inc. virtual school a drain for taxpayers and a cautionary tale for reformers
TEA vice-president stands for students, teachers and schools at event
What costs $40 million and does absolutely nothing for Tennessee? Dolores Gresham’s education agenda. Gresham, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, was the prime sponsor and chief advocate of the Tennessee Virtual Schools Act. That’s the law that allowed K12, Inc. to bring failing online schools to Tennessee.
Picture this: You are the governor of a state that has seen a tremendous pushback on the reforms your administration has pushed in recent years. TEA fought back and won when the governor’s top education official tried to tie teacher licenses to test scores. The legislature said “no” to the administration’s choice for a new standardized test and demanded that it be put out to bid. Outside special interests hammer on the Common Core, falsely accusing the administration of allowing a federal takeover of Tennessee schools. As governor, you decide there should be an “education summit” to gather all who have an interest in public schools. You pick 40 participants for this grand event— and only four of whom are actual classroom teachers. What could possibly go wrong?
Sadly, this was the reality of Gov. Bill Haslam’s education summit held in Nashville recently. Only 10 percent of participants spend their days with Tennessee’s public school students. Only 10 percent have any idea about what it is like to teach today under the pressure of so many unproven reforms and high-stakes tests. Having such a small number of classroom teachers involved shows that this administration does not respect the teaching profession or understand the importance of teacher involvement in education policy decisions. To have a real dialogue about the future of public education in Tennessee, teachers must have more than 10 percent input. The governor’s summit also fell short in covering the real issues plaguing our schools. The abysmal level of investment our state makes in students was mentioned by a participant in the final minutes of the fourhour event. The comment went unacknowledged by the governor.
ED SUMMIT HELD WITH FEW EDUCATORS go to page 11
How bad is K12, Inc.? They are the worst school in the state according to testing data. And they are consistent. They’ve been the worst school in the state three years running. That hasn’t stopped them from collecting $40 million in tax dollars to operate in our state. How did they get here? Well, since 2008, they’ve spent around $300,000 lobbying the Tennessee General Assembly. They found a friend in Dolores Gresham. A friend who
helped them turn a $300,000 investment in lobbying into $40 million in revenue gleaned from Tennessee taxpayers. Now, the Tennessee Virtual Academy, operated by K12, Inc., is performing so badly
Achievement School District below expectations The Achievement School District, founded by state law to take over schools in the bottom five percent of test scores and “turn them around,” has some explaining to do. It seems that their own testing record leaves much to be desired, and many in the education community are seriously questioning the “blow it up—we can do it better” approach to school improvement. Educators in Memphis and Metro-Nashville also want to know what happened to the extra resources that have been used by ASD schools and whether the agency will start returning schools they have not turned around back to their local school districts. The bottom line is — $18 million was spent and student performance is still no better (and sometimes worse) than what was happening at the schools the ASD took over from Memphis and Nashville. Achievement gains for ASD schools are slower than the local school district pace, and in the case of English/Language Arts, there has been a regression in scores.
12 October 2014
A WASTE OF ED FUNDING go to page 10
ASD BELOW EXPECTIONS go to page 8